Food and electricity have pushed up inflation in February, which has risen by one tenth in February to stand at 6%, in year-on-year terms, one tenth more than the previous month. It is a smaller increase than the two tenths that the advanced data from the INE pointed out two weeks ago.
As regards core inflation, which does not take energy and fresh food into account, it continues to rise and stands at 7.6%. In this case, it is also one tenth more than the previous month, and one less than the advanced data. The underlying is less volatile than the general CPI and it costs more to rise, but when it is up it is also more difficult for it to moderate; and that is something that we are currently checking. Core inflation is an indicator of underlying inflationary trends, and in this sense, if it remains at these high levels and increases by even one tenth, it shows that it will be difficult to moderate. It also indicates to what extent the increase in energy prices has spread to the rest of the products.
Food prices increase, especially for fresh foods. In this way, the price of food increased by 16.6% year-on-year in February, which is the highest rate in the historical series, since 1994. With this increase, food already has a chain of five consecutive months with an increase of more than 15% YoY
Among the biggest price increases among foods are sugar (with an increase of 52.6%), butter (39.1%), sauces (33.8%), olive oil (33.5% ) and whole milk (33.2%). Fresh legumes and vegetables rose 23.6%.
According to the Ministry of Economy, one of the elements that can justify this increase in prices, especially in legumes, vegetables and fresh fruit, is the reduction in production due to unfavorable weather conditions, both in Spain and in other EU countries.
There has also been an increase in electricity prices, after the sharp drop in previous months. On the other hand, it is worth highlighting the good behavior of transport which, thanks to the aid applied
